Kenya: The 13 Kenyans Most Wanted By Interpol

Nairobi — Thirteen Kenyans on Interpol's list of the world's most wanted fugitives
were named yesterday.

They include the former head of Kenya Pipeline, Dr Linus Cheruiyot, the
London-based "miracle babies" preacher - self-styled Archbishop Gilbert Deya
- plus two runaway lawyers and a banker.

Four Ugandans also appear on the list: wanted by Kenya police for their
part in a car theft syndicate. The CID, through the Interpol office in
Nairobi, has already sent extradition requests detailing the crimes the 13
Kenyans and four Ugandans are alleged to have committed, in Kenya.

The 17 are wanted for a variety of frauds, child trafficking, vehicle
thefts and financial swindles, police said.

They committed the crimes between 2002 and this year and fled when they
knew they were being investigated by the police.

The two lawyers on the list are Mr Mathew Ndung'u Kimani, wanted for
allegedly stealing a client's money, and Mr David Mwenda Kimbui, who, it is
claimed, attacked a woman and then skipped bail.

Wanted in addition are four members of a family who are accused of
swindling a travel agent by emigrating to the US without paying in full for
their tickets, and banker Abbas Azfar who allegedly stole Sh11.9 million
from customers' accounts.

Businessman Abdikarim Jama Mohammed and tour operator Mansurali Fazal
Samji Tejani are also wanted back in Kenya, as are Mr Ndegwa Githu and Mr
Natatali Kuiyaki Mbogho, who are being sought for the vehicle syndicate
along with the four Ugandans: Mr Kabuye Moses, Mr Mayanya Farouk, Mr Mutebi
Yasin and Mr Mamadu Paiba.

CID chief Joseph Kamau said they were getting good responses from the
countries where the extradition papers had been sent.

"We successfully extradited many other criminals and we believe it's
just a matter of time before we get those still out there," he said.

Extradition papers for former Pipeline managing director Linus Cheruiyot
were sent to the US on April 30 after he jumped bail while facing a Sh339
million fraud case.

Nairobi chief magistrate Aggrey Muchelule ordered his arrest, in March,
when he failed to appear in court.

His lawyers told the court Dr Cheruiyot had travelled to the US to visit
his family.

He had travelled secretly since his bail conditions required him to
remain in Kenya until the case was over, prosecutors told the court.

Archbishop Gilbert Deya was charged with child theft, in his absence, on
September 2.

A warrant for his arrest was issued on the same day, setting in motion a
process that will eventually see him extradited to face the charges.

The Attorney-General's office is in the final stages of filing
extradition papers to the United Kingdom, where the preacher has been for
the last two years.

The leader of the Gilbert Deya Ministries, he was named by Kenyan
authorities who are investigating the theft and trafficking of
children.

Mr Deya's wife, Mrs Mary Deya, appeared in court, in Nairobi, this week,
along with another British woman and three other people who all claim they
gave birth through the power of prayer.

Police commissioner Mohammed Hussein Ali yesterday said detectives were
preparing to get Mr Deya back to Kenya for interrogation and dismissed his
allegation that police intended to kill him as "outrageous and
childish".

Said Major-Gen Ali: "He can rave and rant, pour accusations at us as
much as he wants. What we know is that he still has questions to answer and
we'll pursue him to whichever country he goes, however long it takes. We
have a case."

The couple and their two children accused of swindling a travel agent
before they flew to the United States are Mr Salim Githiomi, his wife
Elizabeth and their children, Monalisa and Papa.

It is claimed they told the agent they were going for a short visit to
the US and asked for tickets valued Sh434,000 on credit on Christmas Eve,
2002, according to extradition documents sent to the US government.

They paid a deposit of Sh50,000 and promised to pay the balance when
they returned.

Unknown to the agent, Mr Githiomi had meanwhile sold his home and was
planning to settle in the US, Interpol said.

The case was reported by the travel agent to Nairobi CID after it was
established the family had indeed disposed of their property in Kenya.

The investigators went to court on March 8, 2003, and obtained warrants
of arrest against the family.

The Interpol office in Nairobi forwarded extradition documents to the
Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs for transmission to the US, last
month.

Lawyer Mathew Ndung'u Kimani is alleged to have fled to Britain after
stealing his client's money.

The client told police he wanted to buy a Sh2.8 million house in Buru
Buru estate, Nairobi, and appointed the lawyer to be his agent.

Documents with the Interpol showed that the man made a down payment of
Sh900,000 to the house seller and obtained a bank loan of Sh1.9 million for
the balance. He handed the cheque to his lawyer to deposit in his client
account.

It is alleged the lawyer then withdrew Sh448,000 and fled to the UK when
police launched investigations.

A warrant of arrest was issued against Mr Kimani on August 18, 2002 and
his extradition papers have been forwarded to London.

The other wanted lawyer, Mr David Mwenda Kimbui - who was serving a
five-year jail term for assaulting a woman - slipped out of Kenya in 2000
after he lodged an appeal and pleaded with the court to grant him bail on
medical grounds.

He was jailed for slitting the woman's stomach with a kitchen knife and
then locking her in the house, thinking she would die. However rescuers
rushed her to hospital and she survived.

Mr Kimbui spent a month in Kamiti prison before he was taken to Kenyatta
National Hospital.

After appealing against the sentence, he tried several times to be
released on bail, but the request was rejected.

However he was later given a Sh20,000 bond on medical grounds... and
that was the last time the lawyer appeared in court.

The magistrate issued a warrant against him when he failed to turn up
three times.

Interpol suspect he fled to either South Africa or Zimbabwe.

Banker Abbas Azfar, the chief manager of Fidelity Commercial Bank, was
accused of stealing Sh11.9 million from customers' accounts.

The Central Bank of Kenya's fraud unit asked Interpol to help arrest
him, saying he stole the money from three fixed accounts held in his branch,
in Nairobi, between July and August 2003.

Police obtained a warrant of arrest after it was established that he
fled to Karachi, Pakistan, on November 15, 2003.

Businessman Abdikarim Jama Mohammed is being sought by Interpol in Dubai
over allegations that he swindled eight other businessmen in Namanga Town of
a total of Sh21.5 million between July 15 and 20, this year.

Papers indicting Mr Mohammed say he was a prominent businessman in
Namanga, owning several shops and a fleet of trucks.

He is alleged to have entered into a deal with his fellow traders to
carry goods from Nairobi in his trucks and police say he collected money
from the eight businessmen and drove to Nairobi on July 28, saying he was
going to buy their goods.

Instead, he flew to Dubai through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
and there are no indications he will return.

Officers from Namanga police station filed charges against Mr Mohammed
last month and they were issued with a warrant of arrest.

Attorney General Amos Wako has already accepted a request from the
Interpol to have him repatriated from Dubai.

Mr Mansurali Fazal Samji Tejani, the proprietor of Inbound Tours and
Safaris Ltd, is reported to have gone to a forex bureau in Nairobi city
centre in May 2003 and said he wanted to buy $100,000 to travel to America
with his family.

He issued the bureau with his company cheques and he was given the
money. But only cheques worth $50,000 were cleared by the bank and the rest
were rejected because the account was then empty.

Investigators say the bureau nonetheless gave the balance to Mr Tejani
after he wrote post-dated cheques. But the cheques were not honoured by the
bank because Mr Tejani's account was by then in the red and he had closed
his company before leaving for the US.

The forex bureau reported the matter to CID officers at Central police
station. The police obtained a warrant of arrest against Mr Tejani on April
30 and forwarded his file to the AG for the extradition process.

Mr Natatali Kuiyaki Mbogho and Mr Ndegwa Githu and the four Ugandans are
wanted by the Kenyan police after they were implicated in an elaborate
syndicate of stealing vehicles in Kenya and taking them to Uganda and
Tanzania.

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